Walther's swing bridge

I just finished the Walther's swing bridge. It is a nice looking kit, it runs very smoothly. there were two modifications that I made. the first was to mount the second switch (the one that they put on the abutment to turn off the motor, under the platform 90 degrees from the other switch. I then wired them directly to the wires for the motor. They don't tell you that the switches are specific for the direction of travel, so I had to reverse the red and black leads from the switches to the motor. The colors were corrected when I wired directly to the motor. But IT WORKS!!!!!!! very smooth, and very quiet. Unlike the rolling bridge which is very noisy and the contacts did not hold up well, so I have to make sure that I turn the motor off.

I made the bridge a 'dual mode' bridge. One side for rail and the other for a single lane road. The bridge leads into the Port of Michelle's Lee, which is a fairly busy port for Lake freighters and car floats. There is also an elevator co-op where LBL lading is handled. There are about a dozen silos that are owned by different companies, but the handling of the product is done by the 'co-operative' management and rolling stock is called in to transport each product to its respective owner.

There will also be a waterfront park on a peninsular that juts into the lake.

Reply to
Frank Rosenbaum
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Pictures, please!

- RWM

Frank Rosenbaum wrote:

Reply to
RWM

What!!!! You want pictures????!!!!!

OK I will try to take them tomorrow.

Reply to
Frank Rosenbaum

Thanks. Your excellent written description parked the interest.

- RWM

Frank Rosenbaum wrote:

Reply to
RWM

OOps, sorry bout that. I meant to hit reply to, not group.

Reply to
Frank Rosenbaum

I built that bridge, too. My only complaint is that getting the bridge to stop exactly correctly takes some patience. I wound up resigned to the fact that when closing the bridge, it might be just a teensy bit off from time to time, and that it would derail trains. So I use some rail joiners to lock it in place after I close it (which is its usual position). So, opening and closing requires the "hand of almighty creator (that's me)" to unlock it prior to moving it. I find that the only time I move it is for visitors or just to amuse myself, that is not a big problem for me.

I painted mine flat aluminum (Polyscale and airbrushed on) to simulate many of the bridges I see around here. I uses an india ink black wash to age it a bit to simulate dirt.

Ed

in article 0lCyf.805$ snipped-for-privacy@fe05.lga, Frank Rosenbaum at snipped-for-privacy@charter.net wrote on 1/15/06 5:06 PM:

Reply to
Edward A. Oates

I placed a picture of it on my .mac website

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Ed

in article BFF15743.1246B% snipped-for-privacy@unearthlylink.net, Edward A. Oates at snipped-for-privacy@unearthlylink.net wrote on 1/16/06 1:59 PM:

Reply to
Edward A. Oates

That is a nice looking layout, Ed. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I wonder if the alignment could be corrected by moving the abutment that has the switch on it. Of course that would mean realigning the track leading from the bridge.

Reply to
Frank Rosenbaum

I played with lots of stuff and found that various friction changes moved the track as much as 1/32" one way or the other (for a total of a 1/16" "error" bar). I will work on it again when I get to the scenic'ing part and have some disassembly of the bridge to do. I need to pour some water in the "river" over which the bridge crosses.

Ed

in article 5xVyf.25$ snipped-for-privacy@fe06.lga, Frank Rosenbaum at snipped-for-privacy@charter.net wrote on 1/16/06 2:56 PM:

Reply to
Edward A. Oates

Ya know we use "Flickr"

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for pictures and are starting to use "YouTube"
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for videos on another usenet group. Most of the picture oriented people post there and reference with links. It works very well...

Reply to
Big Rich Soprano

Rich, Thanks for those links!!!! I have posted my bridge pictures on flickr. They are titled "Bridge to Michelle's Lee". If you want to see them. I think I will be taking lots of pictures now. (G) I probably will also post the pictures that I took of my club.

I also subscribed to youtube as well. It will be a great place to air my DVD's.

If you get a chance, watch the "Crossbar" video. The guy is fantastic.

Reply to
Frank Rosenbaum

parked? hehehe...

Reply to
Big Rich Soprano

Ok, the next step for you is to post the link(s) here... It's good advertising after all... And you're very welcome!

Reply to
Big Rich Soprano

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